Northwestern Montana is a stunningly beautiful landscape of snow-capped peaks, healthy forests and sparkling rivers that sustain some of North America’s most iconic wildlife – grizzly bear, Canada lynx, native trout and more. It lies within the vast 10-million-acre Crown of the Continent, one of the largest, most intact natural areas in the continental United States. Yet generations of Montanans have called this region home. They’ve worked in its forests, fished in its streams and raised their families to love their beautiful surroundings and rural way of life.

The Montana Legacy Project is working to preserve this wild, working landscape for current and future generations.

Legacy Project Goals:

--protect the area’s clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat
-- keep our forests in productive timber management
-- promote public access to these lands for fishing, hiking hunting and other recreation

This vision is the result of hard work and collaboration by many individuals and organizations from across the state.  Business leaders, sportsmen, elected officials, federal and state agencies, conservationists, citizen groups and others are working together to protect this unique and important area.

Securing a Future for People and Wildlife
A key component of the project is the purchase by The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land of more than 310,000 acres of western Montana forest land from Plum Creek Timber Company. See maps.

With this purchase, the Legacy partners aim to consolidate ownership and management of these lands, enable ongoing sustainable timber harvesting and (to the extent possible) preserve public access to these lands for recreation.

Purchase of Plum Creek Land Preserves Public Access, Timber Jobs and Vital Habitat >>

"What excites me about pulling off a transaction of this scale is that we have the opportunity to keep a way of life in the West that is shrinking everywhere else you go. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve the landscape and lifestyle we enjoy in the West."- Denny Iverson, Blackfoot Valley rancher, logger, and board member of the Blackfoot Challenge